Candidates progress through a series of stages throughout the hiring process, from initial application and screening to interviews and final decision-making. Each stage plays an important role in building a complete picture of the candidate’s suitability. Once a candidate successfully reaches the final stage, an offer can be extended.
This guide focuses on that final step, outlining how the offer process fits into the candidate journey.
How do I create a new offer?
To create a new offer in Pinpoint, ensure that your candidate is in the offer stage. Then follow the steps below to submit the offer. This includes configuring the job offer details, such as role specifics, compensation, and other relevant terms, within the Pinpoint platform.
Move the candidate to the offer stage
Your candidate needs to be in the offer stage before you can submit an offer. Head back to the list of candidates, check the box next to the candidate you wish to move into the offer stage, then click 'Move Candidates' and select the Offer stage.
Open the offers tab
Open the candidate's profile and select 'Offers', then 'New Offer'.
Enter offer details
Fill out the offer details in the form, including selecting the offer letter and email template you want to use.
You'll be asked for the following:
Offer Template (optional)
Job Title (required)
Expiry Date - the deadline for the candidate to respond
Start Date (optional but recommended)
Compensation - salary amount, currency, and pay period (e.g. per year). Note: if you fill in any one of these, you'll need to fill in all three
Work Address, Manager, Paid Days Off - optional extras
Custom Fields - your company may have added specific fields here
Signature type -
Wet signature: the traditional pen-and-paper approach, where the candidate downloads the offer, prints it, signs it, and then uploads it back to Pinpoint.
E-Signature (via DocuSign): this will prompt the candidate to sign the offer letter on the web page.
No signature: The candidate simply reads the offer and clicks "Accept Offer".
Submit for approval (if required)
If your company uses an approval workflow, the offer will be sent to the relevant approvers before it reaches the candidate. You'll be notified once it's approved (or rejected).
Send the offer to the candidate
Depending on your company's settings, the offer will either:
Send automatically once approved, orWait for you to manually send it (you'll get a notification to do so, and may be able to make final edits first)
Useful tips!
You can't create a new offer if the candidate already has a pending or accepted offer. You'd need to retract it first.
Offers expire at 11:59 PM on the expiry date you set (in your timezone). Candidates can't accept after that.
Bulk offers - if you need to send offers to multiple candidates at once, go to the Offers tab on the Job itself, select candidates, and use the Send Offers button.
How does the candidate sign the offer?
Once you send an offer to a candidate, they will receive an email containing a link to the offer.
When they click the “Review Offer” button, they’ll be taken to a page like the one shown below. From there, candidates can review and sign the offer or reject it, and their decision will be recorded in the Pinpoint system.
For offer letters requiring an 'E-signature,' the candidate will view them as PDFs. They can click on 'Click to sign' to sign the offer letter in their preferred method:
The candidate can sign the offer letter by drawing, typing, or uploading an image of their signature.
The candidate will receive an email confirming that the signed or accepted offer letter has been sent to the hiring team, which looks like this:
Once the candidate has signed the offer letter, a copy will be available for viewing within the documents section of the candidate's record.
FAQs
What if my candidate doesn't receive the offer email?
If your candidate does not receive the offer email, first check their email address for accuracy. Also, confirm that the email was sent successfully within Pinpoint (the message will be visible on the Messages tab on their application). If you have sign-off workflows enabled, the offer may need to be approved by your team first before it is sent to the candidate.
What happens when a candidate accepts and declines an offer?
By default, when accepting an offer, they're automatically moved to the Hired stage. If your company has turned that setting off, they'll stay where they are, and you'll need to move them manually (useful if you have intermediate post-offer stages). If the candidate declines the offer, you will receive a notification and can then proceed to either reassess the offer or move on to another candidate.
Who gets notified when a candidate responds to an offer?
Anyone with access to the job who has the "Offer Response" notification enabled will receive an alert.
Can external recruiters see the offer sent to their candidate?
No. Offers are sent directly to the candidate, bypassing the external recruiter. This is by design to protect sensitive salary and terms information.
What if the candidate cannot access the offer link?
Your candidate might tell you they can't access the link. Below are some reasons why this might happen.
Invalid or broken link (Token Not Found): If the offer link is incomplete, mistyped, corrupted, or expired, the candidate will see a “Token Not Found” error. This can happen if the email client breaks the URL.
Offer expired: If the offer has passed its expiry date, the candidate can still view it, but the Accept/Reject buttons are removed so no action can be taken. Expiry is based on the sender’s time zone, which can cause confusion across time zones.
Very old expired offer (“Dead” offer): Offers expired for more than 3 months are considered “dead,” but the candidate experience is the same — they can view the offer, but can’t respond.
Offer retracted: If the offer is withdrawn, the candidate will see a message saying the offer has been retracted. Pinpoint does not notify candidates automatically unless that setting is enabled.
Wet signature required: If a wet signature is required, the candidate must download, sign, and re-upload the offer letter before accepting. If they don’t, they’ll see: “Please upload the signed offer letter.”